Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are super busy and someone ask you for some of your time and you say yes, when in fact yes is the worst possible answer you could have given? If you are a yes to everything person then you are going to have to learn the how to say no politely in English.
If you’re like me, saying yes comes easily. I love to help people and I love to keep busy. Furthermore, I am a really social person, and this means that I love it when people invite me to things. However, this can also mean that my life quickly gets out of control and I have to find time for work and other family commitments that I don’t have.
In life I have had to learn to say no. Not only to friends, but also to customers and colleagues. Saying no to a customer doesn’t come easily, especially in my line of work. People really need help with their English, they feel they are missing out on business opportunities or that they are embarrassed by their English. I feel the frustration and pain of each one of my students, however, when you are running a business, a team of people and also teaching, this means your available time for taking on new customers and coaching clients quickly becomes non-existent.
It is times like these that you need to learn to start saying no. So, how can we do that without making the other person feel bad and in the politest way possible.
In today’s episode of the Art of Business English we are going to look at some techniques for saying no politely and some ways to identify when your heading for a situation where you over commit yourself.
